Committee passes bill requiring health licensure boards to survey licensees on workforce participation

Representative Kim Moser presented House Bill 459, which would require all health licensure boards to conduct surveys of their licensees to assess whether license holders are actively working in the field or retired/out of practice. Moser said the measure responds to ongoing healthcare workforce shortages and that the Council on Postsecondary Education performs needs assessments that informed the proposal.

Dale Bertram, a marriage and family therapy professor and practitioner, and Representative Moser described the bill as a record- and data-improvement tool to produce more accurate measures of the active health-care workforce. The committee recorded a roll-call vote in favor of the bill and Chairman Cook adjourned the meeting.